More Americans in uniform are due to hit the streets of Bosnia this week. Unlike its military predecessors, this contingent will be unarmed.
The 33 Americans, current or former police officers, are the first wave of an expected U.S. contribution of 200 to the United Nations-led International Police Task Force being assembled in Bosnia and Croatia.These U.S. policemen will be greeted by civilian expectations far out of proportion to their limited monitoring and training role. They also will be met by a rash of arson and assaults in the Sarajevo area, pockets of police corruption and organized criminal gangs elsewhere, festering ethnic hostilities throughout the war-ravaged territory and a war-hardened, well-armed citizenry.
In the Sarajevo suburb of Ilidza on Tuesday, for example, the U.N. police force was overwhelmed in trying to curb the looting, harassment and arson that erupted in the wake of an exodus by Bosnian Serbs from their former stronghold.
As they have since implementation of the Dayton peace accord began in December, international aid and human-rights workers in Bosnia again criticized the U.N.'s slow pace in putting together what remains a largely impotent police presence.
"There is no doubt this mission will be a very big challenge," said a Clinton administration official involved in overseeing the police program.
To be selected, the U.S. lawmen, along with those who will follow in the next few months, must be willing to commit to a year in the Balkans. They will receive a U.S. taxpayer-funded salary of between $75,000 and $80,000, plus $120 a day from the U.N. for living expenses.
Most are retired officers, although some have taken a leave from their current police jobs, according to a State Department official overseeing the program.
Each person chosen must meet U.N. requirements of at least eight years of investigative or other police experience. They must pass a rigorous screening process that includes a background check, physical examination and drug test.
The U.N. also mandates that at least half of the 1,700-person force must have had supervisory or command responsibilities in the past.
The U.S. will spend about $50 million on the international police force - $30 million in salaries and uniforms (blues patterned after New York City police and the U.N.-trademark light-blue berets) for the American contingent and $20 million for training of Bosnian Croat and Muslim police.
Congress has yet to allocate the money, but the State Department has discerned no opposition on Capitol Hill. At least 33 other countries have promised to contribute police personnel and money.
Dyncorps Aerospace Technology, a Fort Worth-based firm with past experience in finding and training police for international operations, is in charge of assembling the U.S. recruits. It says it has received 500-600 applications from all over the country.
The U.S. police essentially will serve as advisers to the police force being formed by the Bosnian Muslim-Croat federation that is slowly taking charge of civil affairs in Bosnia. They'll patrol with their Bosnian counterparts, assist in investigations and generally try to guide Bosnian police towards the creation of a professional corps of trustworthy law enforcers who can put aside ethnic animosities, a State Department official said.
What they will not do is assume responsibility for enforcing the law or keeping the civil peace.
"Providing security is not part of their job," the official said.
That message has not yet reached the streets of Bosnia, where residents hold hopes that the American police will help fill what they see as a gaping security void that exists because of the refusal of NATO's peacekeeping troops to engage in anything but military duties.
"It's going to be rocky until the local police get their act together," the administration official said.